


I Promise

by happymeal_7



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru Angst, M/M, Sad Ending, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:54:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27056752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happymeal_7/pseuds/happymeal_7
Summary: After high school, Oikawa musters up enough courage to confess to his childhood best friend. But what promises will be broken when Oikawa is offered a place on Argentina’s national team?
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Kudos: 15





	I Promise

> * * *
> 
> It had been seven months since the Seijoh third years graduated. To no one’s surprise, they barely spoke, it was hard to maintain friendships when you can’t see each other every day- or even every week. Much to Oikawa’s regret, he had been neglectful of his friendship with his childhood best friend, Iwaizumi. Having a mental battle over whether or not it was too late to try and contact his friend was starting to take a toll on the brunet’s work during his first year of college. 
> 
> _ It’s been too long; it would be weird to call him now. _
> 
> _ But I miss him. _
> 
> The constant back-and-forth was hurting. Defeatedly pulling out his phone after a mental war seeming to last a lifetime, he texted a name he hadn’t spoken to in months, Hajime Iwaizumi. Fully expecting no reply, he asked the raven-haired spiker if he wanted to go out for coffee at a little shop downtown. It would be quiet, and fun to catch up on memories, old and new. Oikawa realized too late, that was something old people do with friends they don’t intend on keeping long. The message was already sent, and Oikawa already knew Iwaizumi wasn’t going to respond.
> 
> Putting the phone down was hard. Walking away was hard. Trying to let go was hard. But when a quiet melody was sent into the air, Oikawa knew his best friend could never give up on him.
> 
> \---
> 
> When a harsh dinging noise started playing on Iwaizumi’s phone, the dark-haired man ran to his device faster than he would like to admit, to see if it was Oikawa. They hadn’t talked since they graduated, and Iwaizumi couldn’t help but feel guilty. Oikawa, being the over-achiever he is, was probably busy all the time. He was smart, and probably taking difficult classes, so Iwaizumi never wanted to trouble him. The spiker waited patiently to be contacted by his friend for so long, he felt like he should’ve made time to be with Oikawa, who probably needed a break. Making friends in college is hard, especially when you’ve been friends with one special person your whole life.
> 
> Pushing his thoughts away from their dangerous position, Iwaizumi snatched his phone into his hands and opened the message, accidently forgetting to look at the sender. He stopped for a moment, trying his best not to let hopes get too high, and looked back at his phone screen.  _ Oikawa.  _ After seven months of not speaking to one another, and not-so-patiently waiting for calls, Oikawa had sent the first message. 
> 
> Iwaizumi’s heart was immediately sent into an array of emotions, he replied within seconds, agreeing to the invitation, an action he realized looked a little sad. But it didn’t matter, Oikawa  _ reconnected _ with him.
> 
> \---
> 
> The brown-haired setter sat at a small table, just outside a humble café in the downtown area. His patience grew thin quickly when his friend became ten minutes late.
> 
> _ I look like a loser, sitting out here by myself. _
> 
> Oikawa had no longer had the need to worry about his previous thought, as Iwaizumi had walked up to the table he was sitting at, a smile lingering on his face. 
> 
> “Oikawa?” He spoke small, quieter than usual. “Man, you look like shit!” Oikawa was taken aback, but not surprised.
> 
> “ Iwa-chan ! I missed you!” The taller man stood up and hugged the other tightly, hoping to warm up his cold words. He pulled away from the embrace, to be met with his friend's hazel eyes looking him up and down. “What’s wrong?”
> 
> “You little fuck, you  _ promised _ not to pull all-nighters when you went to college and what do you do? I can see your eyebags,  Shittykawa !” But Oikawa just brushed off his caring, if somewhat aggressive, sentiment as playful banter. He dramatically brought his hand to his forehead and loudly gasped.
> 
> “Iwa-chan, so mean!” He smiled and sat back down, crossing one leg over the other. “And I don’t get eyebags, Iwa-chan.” The setter said tauntingly, putting much emphasis on the nick-name. Iwaizumi only rolled his eyes and sighed.
> 
> \---
> 
> Two cups of coffee and some conversation later, the two were still talking without a foreseeable end. Volleyball, old friends, school, their childhood, the list goes on. There were no  awkward silences or dumb conversation starters. They had clicked again.
> 
> “No way!  Mattsun finally did it, huh?”
> 
> “You knew he liked Makki?”
> 
> “You didn’t?!” The two men fell into the comfort of laughter once again, something they found themselves doing a lot that day.
> 
> “Do you remember how  Mattsun got that nickname?” Iwaizumi looked back at his friend, confused. A simple shake of the head determined his answer.
> 
> “Oh, well, we were in our first year, you were getting mad at me for something, I don’t remember what, and you called me  Shittykawa .  Mattsun thought you were talking about him, cause his name ends in –kawa too. It was funny watching you explain that you were being mean to me, so we called him  Mattsun instead of Matsukawa.” Oikawa’s face lit up while he was recounting the story, excited to remember his first year of  high school .
> 
> “Then why do we call Hanamaki, Makki?” Oikawa just pursed his lips and shrugged, no one really knew. Makki just liked the nickname, everyone supposed.
> 
> “Okay, do you remember the time I caught a roach in your house and you flipped out and knocked over an entire bookshelf filled with your mom’s antique plates?”
> 
> Oikawa grimaced, remembering the yelling from his mother that night. “Well _ now _ I do.” Unbeknownst to him, Iwaizumi had just lit the fires of competitiveness inside Oikawa, who was racking his memory to find an even worse story about the ebony-haired spiker. “Remember when you hit that little old lady’s mailbox with your car, and it went flying and almost hit her?”
> 
> Iwaizumi huffed and crossed his arms, remembering the little old lady screaming and jumping out of the way. Oikawa’s laughter drained into the first silence of the day.
> 
> \---
> 
> It had been so long since Iwaizumi last saw his friend, he had forgotten how fun their times together really were. He had forgotten Oikawa’s fun jabs at their old teachers, the way he ran to the bathroom every hour to check how his hair looked, the sound of his laughter, his smile. Without warning Iwaizumi’s head was flooded with old memories of the two.
> 
> \---
> 
> _ A loud smack was heard in the little backyard of the Iwaizumi house. _
> 
> _ “Ow,  _ _ Iwa-chan _ _! What was that for?!” The boy who had just received a volleyball with his face yelled. _
> 
> _ “You’ve been playing this sport for a grand total of twenty minutes, what makes you think you can receive stuff like that?!” The boy with ebony hair yelled back. He looked back at the boy who he had just recently met, who now had a dark red-purple bruise flourishing across his cheek. The purple mark was clearly not being taken well, it was irritated by Oikawa’s constant poking and prodding. Iwaizumi decided to take matters into his own hands and bring his new friend inside to see what he could do about the nasty mark. _
> 
> _ “ _ _ Iwa-chan _ _ it hurts!” Oikawa whined, sitting on a stool in the kitchen, waiting for Iwaizumi and his self-proclaimed ‘magic’ cream, that was supposed to get bruises healing faster. The cream was smeared and rubbed on the still whining boys face, who only continued to complain. In that moment, their faces were dangerously close, only daring each other to get closer _
> 
> _ Their lips could’ve met, but they didn’t. _
> 
> _ \--- _
> 
> _ Oikawa sighed in defeat and self-pity. Kitagawa Daiichi had just recently lost against  _ _ Shiratorizawa _ _ , but Oikawa didn’t see it like that, he saw it as a personal loss against Ushijima. Being let down so badly took a huge toll on him, Iwaizumi couldn’t help but feel bad, and partially responsible.  _
> 
> _ The darker haired boy sat down next to his lighter haired friend, who was now sitting in a deafening silence. An odd silence. Without warning, Oikawa had laid his head on his friends' shoulder, taking comfort in their closeness. Normally, Iwaizumi would’ve pushed him off, or called him a dumb name. Thankfully, he thought better of it and didn’t say anything to upset his friend further. Not completely knowing what to do, he wrapped his arms around his friend, before pulling away slowly. Each boy could feel the others eyes burning into their own. _
> 
> _ Their lips could’ve met, but they didn’t. _
> 
> _ \--- _
> 
> _ “C’mon, Oikawa! Skating is not that hard!” The taller boy had spent the past fifteen minutes falling on his ass, or lack thereof, and taking wobbly strides that would ultimately end in another tumble onto the ice. _
> 
> _ “ _ _ Yes, it is _ _!” Oikawa yelled back, trying not to fall for the fourth time in fifteen minutes. _
> 
> _ “Do you need me to hold your hand?!” Iwaizumi had meant it to be rhetorical, but Oikawa had taken it literally and grabbed his gloved hand, trying to remain as stable as he could. Iwaizumi took notice of his friend’s struggling and didn’t say anything, only tried to show him how easy it is if he would just bend his knees a little. Of course, Oikawa complained about his knee hurting, and disregarded Iwaizumi’s advice. And of course, he ended up slipping, taking his shorter friend down with him. Iwaizumi landed completely on top of Oikawa and took notice of his face, which was now bright red with  _ _ embarrassment _ _ and the cold of the ice beneath him. _
> 
> _ Their lips could’ve met, but they didn’t. _
> 
> _ \--- _
> 
> Suddenly Iwaizumi’s smile started to fade into an eerie,  wistful glance at the sky.
> 
> “Do you remember the promise we made?”
> 
> \---
> 
> _ “ _ _ Iwa-chan _ _ , can you promise me something?” Naturally, Iwaizumi thought the question was going to be about something dumb that happened at school, or Oikawa forcing him to watch yet another alien documentary, but this was different. _
> 
> _ “What is it,  _ _ Shittykawa _ _?” Typically, the setter would be retorting with frustration or his own insult, but this time was different. This time was off. _
> 
> _ “Promise we stay together forever?” Usually Oikawa was needy, but never this bad. Normally, he would just be clingy, never in need of a reminder of their friendship. And normally, Iwaizumi would just throw an insult in his face, as he was never good with words, this time was different for both of them. Something was way different. Iwaizumi felt oddly drawn in by the question, taking him by surprise. _
> 
> _ They shared a glance for one moment, a single frame in time, before Iwaizumi nodded and held out his hand, waiting for Oikawa’s grasp. They shook hands and stated the promise they vowed to keep forever. _
> 
> _ “I promise.” _
> 
> _ \--- _
> 
> “Of course, I remember, Iwa-chan! I can’t believe you do too! You really do care about me!” Oikawa teased, but it was true, Iwaizumi did remember, and he did care. But why couldn’t he admit it?
> 
> That day was an odd day for Iwaizumi. Something about Oikawa made him feel weird, something was different about the ever-smiling man. After picking up the check, they walked home in mostly silence, as they had exhausted all conversation topics. The two friends had walked into the moment where they had to separate once more, the moment when Oikawa broke their drawn out silence.
> 
> “ Iwa-chan ?” His expression struck worry into Iwaizumi’s heart. Why did he look so upset? They had a fun time; it had no warrant for such a negative end result. Normally, Iwaizumi would roll his eyes and sarcastically ask what was wrong, but like  most things that day, this was different. 
> 
> “What’s up?”
> 
> “We went seven months without talking, and I’d hate myself forever if I let you leave without telling you I love you.” Oikawa spoke so quickly; the raven-haired man could barely make out what he said. Barely. When the phrase hit his ears, it felt euphoric. Iwaizumi had finally figured out what was so different about that day. Love. He thought it was platonic, but he was wrong. And it only took him this many years to realize it. 
> 
> Without noticing, the two men had gotten closer. This was  similar to all the other times they were this close. But not the same.
> 
> Their lips could meet, and they did.
> 
> \---
> 
> It had been about two months since Oikawa had spilled his guts to Iwaizumi, and the pair hadn’t separated. Feelings were still going strong as ever and their promise was in no danger of being broken. Iwaizumi had come to realize that he truly relied on Oikawa, and Oikawa relied on him. They needed each other to keep each other sane. Iwaizumi made sure Oikawa slept and took care of himself, and Oikawa made sure Iwaizumi didn’t overwork  himself , and got out enough.
> 
> Because they were in separate colleges, they usually met up on the weekends, but tried to text as much as possible during the week. No matter how long they were together on the weekends, it wasn’t enough. It was never enough.
> 
> “ Iwa-chan , what am I doing here?”
> 
> “You’ll see.”
> 
> Iwaizumi took Oikawa’s pale hand into his own and guided him down a long hall with many identical doors, each labelled with a number. Taking a sudden stop, Iwaizumi pulled out a key for one of the doors and lead the setter into an apartment.
> 
> “I don’t see you often enough, and I figured you’d want to get an apartment or som-” Iwaizumi was promptly cut off by Oikawa, who hugged him tightly and squealed.
> 
> “Aw,  Iwa-chan ! I love you!” Iwaizumi pushed the affectionate male off of him and sat down on the floor of the apartment. He motioned for Oikawa to come sit next to him. They didn’t have anything in their apartment yet, and both men were in-between jobs, so there was no steady income for rent, but they knew they could make it work. The two contentedly sat in silence, this time a different silence, this one was comforting and welcomed as opposed to awkward and uncomfortable.
> 
> “ Iwa-chan ? You still promise we’ll be together forever, right?” Oikawa seemed unsure of himself, which was very odd,  considering his entire personality.
> 
> “We made that promise years ago, Shittykawa.”
> 
> “Answer the question.”
> 
> “I promise.” Iwaizumi’s answer lit up Oikawa’s face, even though all he did was reiterate a promise he made years ago.
> 
> “Good, I promise too!”
> 
> \---
> 
> “I’m home!” Oikawa’s yells made themselves known in their small, shared apartment. He had picked up an extra shift at the coffee shop he had only recently started working at, so he was home a little later than usual, however this wasn’t a bother to Iwaizumi, who had been wanting a few hours of silence for a while now.
> 
> A white envelope on the kitchen table caught the setter's eye and he felt his heart drop. He sat down on the blue sofa next to Iwaizumi, but far away enough that he wouldn’t see what was in the envelope. He slowly tore open the folds, and pulled out a piece of paper, brown eyes frantically scanning it.
> 
> “Iwaizumi...”
> 
> ** Iwaizumi ** . The use of his full name ran laps around his mind. What in God’s name would make Tooru Oikawa use his full name?
> 
> “What is it?” Iwaizumi noticed tears force their way through Oikawa’s eyelids, and roll down onto his rosy cheeks.
> 
> “A few months ago, I didn’t tell you, but I applied for a bunch of national teams.” His breathing hitched and his voice began to break, as if glass shards were stuck in his throat. “I got accepted by Argentina. I don’t want to leave you.”
> 
> As much as Iwaizumi wanted to  congratulate him, he noticed how much the man was hurting at the thought of leaving him. On one hand, he had found his soulmate, and couldn’t trade him for the world, but on the other, this was Oikawa’s dream and he was in the way. He was making Oikawa regret his choices. He was making Oikawa regret his dreams.
> 
> “I don’t want you to leave either.”
> 
> Oikawa turned to face Iwaizumi, eyes glistening with the thought of Argentina. Iwaizumi felt his own tears move through him quickly.
> 
> “But you have to.”
> 
> “Iwa-chan...”
> 
> “ _ Oikawa.  _ You’ve wanted to do volleyball professionally forever now, and you just got offered the opportunity to do it.  _ Do it _ . I refuse to get in the way. I love you.” Iwaizumi didn’t say those words as often as he should’ve, but not that everything was falling apart, he had to make up for it.
> 
> “I love you too.”
> 
> The two sat on that blue sofa for the rest of the night, each of them just wanting to stay like that for the rest of their lives.
> 
> \---
> 
> “I’ll see you soon,  Iwa -chan.” Oikawa had said many tearful goodbyes to Iwaizumi, who, as much as he wanted to, didn’t cry. He couldn’t, not in front of Oikawa.
> 
> Oikawa’s gate was called.
> 
> He turned to leave but ran into Iwaizumi’s arms one last time.
> 
> Oikawa said nothing. He recollected himself and boarded his flight, breaking the most important promise he ever made.
> 
> \---
> 
> It had been a year since Oikawa left. They tried to make long distance work; they really did. But being apart so many miles for so long is hard and they gave up, though their love never ceased. Iwaizumi was smarter than to get in the way of Oikawa’s dream and as much as Oikawa loved him, he wanted Iwaizumi to move on.
> 
> From time to time, Iwaizumi sees a volleyball match on and is reminded of the times he had with the man he never wanted to give up.


End file.
